16 hours on the train -> 24 hours at home

I just got out of the shower. I spent 8 hours on the train today. I feel dizzy and like I'm about to get sick. I threw up and managed to fall asleep on the train. Due to my allergy my nose was blocked, and the result was that together with the old lady next to me we pretty much had a "snore show". A piece of my female pride died right there and then.
The old woman was nice and we talked a lot. I didn't manage to study. I'm terrified for tomorrow. Now I'm lying in my bed. Think I'm going to sleep early and make sure that I'm not sick tomorrow.
Quick update:
My dearest friend, Vymi, and Xa picked me up. The train couldn't leave the station on time due to some idiots who crossed the train tracks. I was on the trainstation in Moss about 2 am. Xa was drunk and puked on the car window. I can tell you that it didn't exactly smell like roses.

Me and my sister prepared a fantastic breakfast. My parents didn't know that I was coming home. Hehe. Me and my sister was talking in the kitchen. Before I knew it my mother was standing in front of me only with her pantie and sweater on. "Minh Chau!" she yelled. She was so thrilled. I gave her a huge hug. I also gave ger the massage oil and the "feet thingy" since she had her birthday a few weeks ago. After breakfast I studied. Next stop: Anette and Diep = happy reunion and we planned their birthday celebration. My mom called and shortly after that I was home eating "wan tanh" (I think it's spelled that way) with my ex boyfriend, Xa. We ended up talking in his car as we normally do. He kissed my cheek. We made out. I've missed him!
It was raining outside. My sister called me and I had to go.
My mother, father, my sister and I talked in the newly refurbished livingroom. Then it was bed time. I called Vymi and we talked for about an hour.

Next morning my mother and I walked down to the train station. We talked about life, our family and my dad and Xa. I could see the sorrow in her eyes when I stepped on the train. I will miss her. Once again it was time to say goodbye.

Note to myself

- The next time you leave your passport at the Chinese embassy in Oslo (in order to get a visa), make sure that you remember that before you go and make a new one!
Jupp... The gold fish award this year goes to... Anita Bui!
- Also remember to buy shampoo and hair conditinor. A secret: I used Asan in my hair the last time I took a shower.

Exam period

It's tough. Not physically but mentally. Once again I find myself wondering why I'm doing this. Why am I studying my brain off to get an education I don't have a passion about? I know. The alternative is worse. If I drop out I don't know what I'll do. Get a job in the cafeteria? I like my new life.
Still... I'm kind of lost. What's next? I'll have one year off between my bachelor and master but I have a feeling that it won't be that great. My father will be stressed because I'm out seeing the world, and I have to earn some money to cover all the expenses.
When I'm finished I will be back on the school bench. Studying. Then.. WORK. The guy. Family. House. Children. Family. Love. Work. Life crisis. Work. Useless? Old. Weak. Vacation. Alone. I can see it all. Even though I don't exactly know what's out there for me it's as if I kind of do. I'm striving to get a life "most people" want. Do I want that? I know I want to travel and help people. I love being with children and to be honest I would probably have chosen to work in a kinder garden if it hadn't been for all of the expectations everyone has, including myself. Will I ever be happy? Will I ever be content with myself and what I have achieved?
I hope the answer is yes. It has to be yes.
I think I need to stop looking at others (easier said than done) and just do my best. Know that I have limits and be happy with what I manage to do without thinking too little of me.
Take more chances. Because to be honest with you, Anita (yes I'm talking to myself) you are a chicken. Dare to talk to people and challenge yourself. Dare to say no if you don't feel like doing it. (And get your ass to bed now. You have to study tomorrow!)
Okay. I'm off to bed. Good night!

A call that made the call

Hey!

My father called me today. He was happy! "Minh Châu, I looked at this house at Finn.no today and we might buy it. Hehehehe" (he said something like that. It doesn't get 100 % right when you're translating from Vietnamese to English). The first thought that stroked me was: "Oh, boy. I have already accepted to rent the room in Sandviken! What now?" Why did he suddenly decide to buy an apartment? We had discussed this before I went on this massive crib hunt and he said that it wasn't an option. ÅH.

The situation: it will take some time to find an apartment, but not as long as two years (the room contract is for 2 years minimum).

My new room

So.. I called Helga Marie and said that I was going to move in with her and Sigrid (she has just bought a house and sent me a message the other day and asked me if I was interested in renting the remaining room. It's tiny, but has big enough space for a bed and a cabinet). We had a "hallelujah moment". It's going to be so much fun to live with them!!! I see taco-dinners, salsa classes and crazy Alias nights and lots of laughs and lovely excursions to the mountains. We're gonna have a blass!

I continued my calling round and spoke with Mewish. I told her about the situation and her mood was like a downward sloping curve (I felt so bad about the whole thing!). "It's too bad, but I do understand". That was it. We are going to "hook up" when they move here to Bergen, so it's not the end of "us"! Next call: her uncle. Once again I explained the situation and he accepted it right away. "Okay, and don't feel guilty about it. I understand", he said. He's such a nice man (haven't met him, but he seems very kind)!

The apartment is really nice, so this is my second sweat deal in a way. It's cheaper than the last apartment (3500 kroner each month) and I'm renting it from August instead of July. Oh yeah! :-) Unfortunately it's situated about 15 minutes away from town by bus, but yeye.. Everything can't be perfect (does perfection even excist?)!

Below are some pictures of the apartment.

The bathroom :)

"Footing"

I was out running yesterday, or as people in Spain call it: I was out "footing". I've recently added new songs on my ipod shuffle and I can tell you that I ran like a maniac when I got to the chorus of this song. BOM! And Anita Bui was on fire! It's currently my all time favourite exercise song. Download it at 4shared.com, and take it out for a run ;-)

Hurray! 17.mai - the national day in Norway

I woke up today at 06.15. The alarm went off. One of my friends in Oslo, Thea, had sent me a message. "Happy day!<3" she wrote. I didn't manage to wake up and slept for another 20 minutes before I forced myself out of bed on my way to hit the shower. No shampoo and soap left. I put on my white summer dress and some make up. My roommate, Edda, and I walked to town together. It was so nice! On the way she realised that she had forgotten her whine. "Ahhhh". "I always forget something!" (me too sister, I thought to myself). "And I always manage to get late, so.. I'm not going back. I will be on time this time" (I could need some of that mindset as well!)



Chen and I on the street.
Photographer: Morten Sortland



I was late. I was suppose to meet my lovely "sister from another mister", Chen or Cung (we have the same nick name for each other) at 07.45 and met her at 08.00. She looked summer sweet and classy! Chinese people are so beautiful! We went to the Red Cross office and prepared and ate breakfast. Alex Hsi was surprisingly also there! He's this really special and straight forward guy and a good friend of both of us. Smoked salmon, omelet, baguettes, jam, cucumber, ham (spekeskinke) and tea and juice was on the menu. I was fulled. (My roommate just called. Looks like we're watching "500 days of summer" tonight!).

To wrap it up shortly (I have to study now): the 17th May parade was cool! Great music and the mood was ecstatic. Narvesen sold "kroneis" for half its normal price; only 10 kroners (jupp, you got to be a millionaire to live here in Norway). That made my day. Hehe. After watching the parade and go paparazzi wild with the camera (Chen has the photos) and eating hot dogs at Alexes' place we went to Torgallmenningen. We observed several people trying to climb up this 10 meter high timber. It was slippery and one guy actually managed to get all the way to the top! Incredible! I also bought myself sunglasses. The plan was to study when I got home. I had decided not to go to a 17th May dinner at my friend's house. The result: I slept for more than 2 hours. Åh, ANITA!

PS: One question I've been trying to figure out is: do I really want to study at NHH. I mean.. Am I doing this for me or for my parents, status and so on? And.. How can we construct a metric that not only values financial status?

Camera

I'm still waiting for my camera to arrive. I've ordered pentax k r! It's been almost 15 days since I ordered it and my pation is long gone. I've been complainting and they have assured me that it should be arriving within two or three workingdays. I'm crossing my fingers but it's the first and last time I'm ordering from http://www.simplyelectronics.net/!

BRILLIANTLY COLORFUL.

• 12.4 megapixel CMOS
• Compact and lightweight
• Powerful auto shooting w 6 FPS framerate

¨

" Brains, meet beauty. The Pentax K-r has it all. It's a powerful DSLR with advanced features like 12.4 Megapixels, HD video and a 3 inch LCD display.   On the beauty side, taking photos has never looked this good.  Plus, the K-r comes in basic black, classy white and PENTAX red.  The PENTAX K-r competes with higher-end DSLRs and looks great doing it. That’s brilliantly colorful."

I attended a photo course yesterday Sunday 15th and I can gladly tell you that I actually know some of the fuctions on the camera (I'm sensing that I'm going to be a camera geek) and we also got som cool tips on how to take professional pictures and how to "play with the camera"!

I will share them with you as soon as I get the camera and can illustrate the techniques with some pictures. Stay tuned!

Jamie Cullum - Everlasting Love

This song makes me so happy! The chorus is so catchy and I can't stop listening to it! Something inside me lights up and my hopes that prince charming is just around the corner returns. Hmm.. I know. Fluffy :-P

My crib for the next 2 years

Hello, world!

So.. My plan for the first post was to write about a big happening in my life: my internship in China! Buuuut.. Since I FINALLY have found myself an apartment I had to blog about it. WUHUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!

Below is some pictures of the apartment and as you can see I got a pretty sweat deal! The size of the room is perfectly big enough for my keyboard and it's situated pretty close to town! That's one of the main reasons why I decided to rent the room. I want to be closer to the core of Bergen, to the center in other words. The ideal is that the futured Anita Bui will cycle to school every day, bring her lunch and sign up for the salsa classes.

Time will show!

I haven't signed the contract yet but the owner will come to Bergen as soon as possible with his two nephiews I'm going to be living with.

I'm so excited!!! :-D

Do we ever learn from our mistakes?

I'm sitting at the AIESEC office drinking coffee and studying micro economics. I just came back from the toilet. As I was sitting there I once again found myself in the situation where I didn't have any toilet paper! AAAAHHHH!!!! Don't you just hate that?! When you
a) have to walk out with your pants down, hurry and get some paper while risking that someone catches you with your pants down
or
b) put your pants on and get your pantie wet and smelly.

"It's my time of the month" as well...
I should've checked if there was more toilet paper before I took a leak. I only have myself to blame (and the woman before me who used all of the toilet paper without getting a new roll).

Fortunately I knew that Thao was on the other toilet (we're studying together and she left the office right before me). She's my angel of the day!

And this isn't the first I've stumbled upon this situation. Do I ever learn? I remember reading that you have to do a mistake about 200 times before it's out of "your system". I sure hope that ain't true.